The First Lightspeed Shoes
by Nitro Cerin
Summary: Anybody else wonder who made the Lightspeed shoes from Sonic Adventure? I do! Listen to the tale of a fox named Nitro Cerin.
1. Chapter 1-Waking up to a Rescue Mission

**Okay, this is my first story up here, so gimme some feedback. Also before, anybody asks, this OC is NOT EMO OR GOTH!**

**Get it? Got it. GOOD.  
**

"Nitro….Nitro….NITRO!"

"Uuuuuhhhh….Wha?" A black Mobian fox rolled over in his sleep. He was being shaken vigorously by his cousin Tails.

"Come on, wake up! I need you, Nitro!" Tails said, and kept shaking him.

The black fox, Nitro, swung a hand around and landed it on Tails head, like he was some sort of living alarm clock. He was definitely awake now.

"Tails leeme alone. 'S not noon yet, is it?" Nitro said, his speech garbled by sleep. He opened his radioactive green eyes, and immediately shut them to keep the sun from the window from burning them out of his skull.

"Close the stupid shades! Do you want me to go blind?"

Tails complied and pulled the shades back down. "Sorry Nitro, I just thought it was dark in here. I couldn't tell where the bed was." He said quietly. Tails loved his cousin dearly (he was the kitsune's only living family), but getting him to wake up was more than a little scary.

Nitro finally sat up in his bed. For no apparent reason, his hair looked exactly the same as it did when he went to sleep. Crazy, shaggy hair black that stuck up at all angles; two tufts of his bangs were dyed green. His hair in the back was naturally white for some reason and hung past his shoulders. Unlike Tails, Nitro liked to wear clothes. He was dressed in a white t-shirt that said "It's bedtime somewhere" and a pair of dark green pajama pants.

"I swear, if this has to do with the stairs again I am gonna-" Nitro started, then he actually looked at his cousin. Tails was near tears, covered in rock dust, and bleeding from several cuts.

"What happened? You look like you just got hit by a rock slide." He asked Tails.

"I did. And so did Sonic, except he's still trapped there. He needs serious medical attention ASAP."

"Not my problem. Take an Antigrav pack and lift the rubble. Or get that echidna guy to dig him out." said Nitro as he folded his arms.

"I can't. Knuckles is on duty, and a wrong shift could collapse the whole thing on him. I need your expertise, or he could d-" Tails cut himself off. He burst into tears and sat down on the bed.

"An, an, an, he'll be gone, and I'll have nobody to adventure with, and it'll be your stupid fault!" he blubbered.

Nitro felt like a total jerk now. He scooted over to Tails and put his arm around him. "No need to turn on the waterworks cuz. I understand you want me to give him a hand. I never said I wouldn't go, did I?"

Tails sniffled. "Y-you mean you'll help?" Tails asked.

Nitro nodded an affirmative. "Take me to the site. I can get him outta there, no prob."

Tails stood and wiped his nose. "Okay, then. Stay at your com link and I'll call you for help."

"Oh, no. I'm coming with you. Fire up the Tornado."

"But what about your leg? You might hurt it again."

Nitro's hand shot out and grabbed Tails' shoulder. He looked his cousin in the eyes and said "I'm coming with you." Nitro's eyes had literally begun to glow with malice.

"Y-yeah, you are. Right, I'll get your medical supplies. Get dressed and meet me at the Tornado." Tails stammered. He backed out of the room and carefully closed the door. The kitsune breathed a sigh of relief and headed to the workshop's air hangar.

Nitro sighed and rose unsteadily to his feet. He then limped over to his dresser, favoring his left leg.

He tossed his pjs into a hamper on the other side of the room and dressed in a pair of heavy gray cargo pants and a short sleeved gray hoodie. He liked gray. It was nondescript and good camouflage in low light.

He sat down at a dresser covered with many old parts from planes and a bunch of knick-knacks and oddly, hair care products. He pulled a brush from a drawer and pulled it through his tails a few times. That's right, _TAILS_. The bizarre genetic mutation was more common than one would assume.

He then began stuffing things to a backpack. A few rings, a compass and map of the area, and a pair of odd fingerless gloves which were gray with orange wristbands and a blue oval of a glasslike substance on the back of the hand. He almost went out the door when his foot bumped against something. He looked down at what he had hit. It was a pair of red shoes. They looked liked they had no laces, and a green circle pulsed on the outer part of the heel.

"Well, whaddaya know. I thought I threw you out ages ago." Nitro remarked. He picked them up and stuffed them in the backpack.

He then limped down the stairs to the living room. He did a double take when he realized it wasn't his living room.

"Dangit, not again! I thought I fixed the stairs last time." Nitro exclaimed. He pulled out an odd looking remote out and pushed a big red button on it, and slowly faded away.

Seconds afterwards, Rouge the Bat walked in the room. "Thought I heard someone…" She remarked. She shrugged and sidled back to whatever she had been doing.

Nitro reappeared in the hanger and limped to the Tornado.

"Ready to go, Nitro?" Tails asked as he waved.

Nitro gave him a thumbs up. "Ready to rumble Cuz. Lets go!"

And with that, the two Mobians climbed into the plane and flew off to help Sonic the Hedgehog.


	2. Chapter 2-That Stupid Mud Puddle

When Tails and Nitro finally got to the site of the landslide, they found Amy freaking out nearby. She had her iconic Piko Piko hammer out and was ready to swing at the rubble in an attempt to reach her "boyfriend".

"Crap, crap crap crapcrapcrapcrap!" Nitro swore. He jumped out of the Tornado while it was still in the air and tried to land near Amy to stop her from the foolhardy attempt to free Sonic.

What happened was his foot caught on the edge of the cockpit; he fell and rolled the distance between the biplane and Amy, took her legs out from under her, and then landed face first in an inconveniently placed mud puddle. The whole ordeal happened so fast, Tails was just climbing out of the pilot seat when it was over.

"What happened to you two?" He asked innocently.

Nitro spat a clod of mud out of his mouth. "Fate tripped me again." He grumbled as he shook the mud out of his hair.

Amy groaned and slowly stood up, using her hammer like a crutch. "What hit me? I'm gonna hit it back, harder." She said. She blushed a little when she saw Nitro.

"Oh, uh, hello Nitro. What are you doing over there? Kind of a bad spot to be, near the mud like that." She stammered. As you can see, Amy has a bit of a crush on Nitro as well as Sonic.

"Believe me, I know full well." He muttered. He fell back in the mud when Amy hefted the Piko Piko and got in a swinging position again.

"Well back up for me, I need to save my Sonic!" She jumped high into the air and brought the hammer smashing downward towards the rubble. But at the last second, Nitro jumped into the way of the blow. He brought his left hand up and caught the edge of the hammer!

Using Amy's own momentum, he redirected her entire body, hammer and all, into a nearby tree. She slammed into the trunk and shook most of leaves off when she hit.

"Waaah! What was that for, jerk!? I just wanted to save Sonic…Ow!" Amy cried out in pain. There was a nasty abrasion where her arm had scraped against the tree's bark. Nitro saw the blood, and he suddenly grabbed his head in his hands and began groaning and shaking.

(Flashback)

"_I've got a daughter out there you know. Promise me you'll find her and tell what happened to me, got it?" A bloodied green hedgehog said._

"_I promise I will someday. My friend." Nitro sobbed._

"_Good…now get outta here kid!" He gasped and slumped over, no longer able to hold himself up._

(End Flashback)

"Gruhh…hah…ha…rrrr…" Nitro struggled to remain conscious. His eyes were glowing green again, brighter this time.

_"I need to tell her soon, I can't bear so many burdens anymore."_ He thought as he looked at Amy. Tails was putting a bandage on her hurt arm. When he was finished she stomped up to Nitro and glared at him.

"What on earth made you do that? I was gonna get Sonic out of there and be his hero!" she yelled in his face. Nitro put a finger on Amy's forehead, and pushed her face away from him.

"Yeah, gotten him out of the rubble and straight into a morgue with that kind of stunt. At that speed, you would have obliterated the rocks and anything underneath for about 200 feet from the hypocenter."

"The what now?" Amy said in a confused tone.

Nitro face palmed liberally. "Why do I even bother…never mind. Time to get cracking!" The fox rubbed his hands together.

The strategist side of Nitro became apparent at that moment. He began shelling out rapid orders to Tails and Amy.

"Tails, get my medical supplies and the Antigrav pack. Amy, there should be a canteen and a blanket under the seat in the Tornado, spread the blanket out under the tree. Tails I'm going to need that collapsible stretcher. Amy, do you have any food? That moron will need something to eat and all I have are plane rations." He rattled off. The things he requested were done in mere minutes.

"Good. Let me see if I can remember how to work the stupid thing." Nitro picked up the Antigrav pack and fiddled with some levers on the back. It was an odd looking contraption, with large tubes and valves sticking out all over it.

Nitro slapped it onto the nearest boulder and pressed a big blue button. The entire pile of weathered stone and dust lifted up, revealing one very disgruntled hedgehog.

Sonic was not looking his usual cocky self. He was caked from ear tip to shoe buckles in rock dust. He was covered in cuts and bruises, and one leg was heavily swollen.

Nitro pulled Sonic out and carried him to the blanket, where Amy promptly crushed Sonic in a hug.

"Amy! Get off me! You're crushing my ribs!" Sonic screamed in pain.

Nitro pulled Amy off Sonic like a piece of duct tape and sat her down a bit farther away from Sonic.

"I have had enough of your antics girl! Either sit here quietly and learn something about medical treatment, or just go home." Nitro growled, the eerie green color emanating from his eyes again.

Amy squeaked in fear. When the fox's eyes did that, you did what you were told. She nodded vigorously and sat down on the spot.

"Hmph. Stupid people getting in my way all the time. I can never work under that kind of pressure. It's impossible to get anything done, and more importantly, done correctly." Nitro grumbled. He limped back over to where Sonic lay. As he had asked, his medical instruments were out and ready to be used.

"Alright Sonic, what happened exactly when you got hit by this rock slide?" he asked him.

Sonic winced as he opened his mouth. "Well…me and Tails were running along this stretch of land here," He glanced up and down the surrounding landscape to indicate the path. "When I heard this loud slashing sound, then a rumble and all those rocks were heading for us!" He groaned as he tried to shift his leg.

"Easy there Sonic. The less you move the better. I don't want to have to shift broken bones back in place." Nitro said.

"Wait, what broken bones?" Sonic asked.

"That's not important. Continue." Nitro waved the question away with his hand.

"When I heard the rockslide, I knew by the sound it was close. So I slowed down and threw Tails out of the way. Then they hit me, and I felt a pain in my leg. I think I got knocked out, 'cause the next thing I heard were you and Amy arguing." Sonic finished.

"Well, good job Sonic! That is probably one of the most interesting things I have heard in years." Nitro said as he clapped slowly.

"Nitro, it's not funny. He's really hurt." Tails put a hand on Nitro's shoulder as he spoke.

The black fox sighed. "You're right Cuz. Let's get you patched up Sonic." Nitro picked up a small syringe. "Tails, find me the vial that says **ketorolac tromethamine****. I need to give him some painkiller."**

** Tails handed him the vial. Nitro filled the syringe with the drug and injected it into Sonic's leg. The hedgehog winced but stayed still.**

** "This is a little something to hold off the pain while I check for broken bones. If you feel major pain while I'm poking around, tell me and I'll give you another dose."**

** Sonic nodded. Nitro began applying light pressure to Sonic's legs. He got a wince**** of pain from Sonic when he touched the swollen leg.**

** "Well, there's one break in your leg, only a fracture though." Nitro remarked. He continued the procedure and found one other problem.**

** "Good news or bad first?" He asked Sonic. **

** "Um…good news?" Sonic said, confused.**

** "Good news it is then. You only have that one fracture; all your other bones are whole." Nitro dusted his hands off as he grinned.**

** "Then what's the bad news?" Amy asked him.**

** Nitro looked her in the eye, and then turned back to his patient.**

** "By the looks of it, your right shoulder is dislocated. Either I can put it back in place, or you can do it. Take your pick, but it needs done now." He folded his arms.**

** "Y-you do it. I don't know how." Sonic was a bit nervous.**

** "Okay then. I'm gonna warn you now, I can't administer more painkiller for this one. The swelling might mess with how it goes into place." Nitro told him. He pulled off his belt and handed it to Sonic.**

** "Wh-" Sonic began, but Nitro cut him off. "Bite down on that while I do this. You might bite through your tongue otherwise."**

**Nitro grasped the injured arm with one hand, and then placed the heel of his palm on the bad shoulder.**

** "On the count of three, okay Sonic?" Nitro announced. Sonic nodded an affirmative and chomped down on the leather belt.**

** "One…Two…" Nitro began, and slammed Sonic's shoulder in place without warning.**

** "Graaaaaahh!" the hedgehog's muffled cry resounded about the area.**

** "Sorry Sonic, I couldn't risk you tensing up for this." Nitro apologized to the hedgehog.**

** Sonic spat the belt into Nitro's face. He sat up, and rolled his arm in the ****socket. Then Sonic promptly threw a punch at him. Nitro caught it inches from his face.**

** "Dangit! I never can manage to get you. How do you manage to stop my punches every time?" Sonic cried in frustration.**

** "Practice, you idiot, practice.**** An old friend of mine once said 'An average man practices until he gets it right. A wise man practices until he never gets it wrong.' There is a reason you're so fast. You've run so much all your life you mastered it." Nitro explained.**

** "Could you please stop ****talking and fix his leg already?" Amy whined.**

** "She is right Nitro. You have been doing a bit too much chatting." Tails commented.**

** "Well, can't argue with that logic. The leg shall be fixed!" Nitro announced. He clipped a splint onto Sonic's leg and pulled it tight. He then pulled out an air cast and put that around it as well.**

** "There.**** That should be okay until you reach a doctor."**

** Sonic looked confused. "I thought you were a doctor."**

** "Um, actually… I build most of the modern medical equipment our doctor's use. I don't actually have any medical licenses, so the treatment I just gave you is technically illegal. Heheh…" Nitro rubbed the back of his neck, clearly embarrassed.**

** "Tails, can you get me my old crutches from under the copilot seat? I think we found somebody who can use them." He continued.**

**"Got it!" Tails said with enthusiasm. ****He flew up to the signature Tornado and dug around under Nitro's seat, throwing all manner of things into a pile next to the plane. **

**Two cupcakes, a cane, one live toad, a pair of pants, an unopened Lego set, a player icon that said "P8", four knives, a broken katana, a My Little Pony Friendship is Magic DVD, four rings, a can of sardines, four half-empty water bottles, a Zippo**** lighter, six empty shotgun shells, enough Spam to feed anyone for a month, a camp stove, a first aid kit, one propane tank, and three pairs of blast goggles were in a mound in the grass before Tails' head emerged from under the seat.**

** "I found the crutches Nitro!" Tails hollered. He flew back over and landed next to Amy, Sonic and his cousin.**

** Sonic and Amy both looked at the pile of stuff that came from under the seat.**

** "How the heck did that all get under there?" they asked simultaneously.**

** "Well, by using a combination of a rip in the time-space continuum and the Duat, I was able to create endless storage ****_and _****prove my theory ****about the Universe of Lost Socks." Nitro explained.**

** Sonic and Amy both looked like their heads were about to explode from excessive amounts of information. Before they could say anything, Nitro had wheeled a chalkboard from outside the field of view.**

** Before they could say anything, the fox was dressed in a college professor's tweed jacket and had written a series of complex equations on the board in math, English, and Egyptian Hieroglyphs. **

** "As you can see from these calculations, under any other circumstances the resulting energy would be equivalent to a ****nuclear fusion reactor melt-" Nitro was cut off when he saw Tails making a "that's enough" motion with his hands.**

** "Heheh. Sorry about that Sonic. Nitro has a tendency to, ah, get ahead of himself. Here, you'll need these crutches."**** Tails said.**

** "Thanks little buddy." Sonic replied. Amy gave him help balancing on one foot.**

** "Careful Sonic. I don't want you to hurt your cute face." Amy chirped. Sonic eyed her with mild distaste.**

** "Right." He responded.**

** Tails led them both to the Tornado. He helped Sonic into the copilot seat. **

** "Come on Nitro! I want to see what you think of my new design for the Tornado's engine." Tails called. He heard no stereotypical grumble or affirmative from Nitro.**

** "Uh, Nitro? Where are you?" Tails wondered aloud. His cousin's medical supplies were neatly packed up and at his feet. A note sat on the bag, written in silver ink, a trademark of Nitro.**

**_Tails, I'm going out to test two of my prototypes in the field. I went without telling you because you would have stopped me from going. I have no clue when I'll return. My COM frequency is 140.85. Call only in an emergency, or if I've been_****_ gone for over a week. If they work, I will return as quickly as I can. I need to do this Cuz. I haven't felt this motivated since I met Kisara…tell her not toy worry, and for the love of God Almighty do NOT give her my frequency. I have enough trouble with her as it is…_**

_**-Nitro Cerin**_

_**PS: nice engine design. How are you gonna power it?**_

**Tails sighed. He knew Nitro was a fairly stubborn Mobian. Once that fool had set his mind to do something, he would do it, against all odds. **

**"Nitro..." He trailed off and climbed into the Tornado.******


	3. Chapter 3- The Test Failure

"Good. Tails left." Nitro rose from the foliage as he heard the engine peter off in the distance. He shook the leaves out of his fur and stepped out of his cover. He found it pathetically easy to disappear when he needed to, regardless of the situation.

So, he began walking on through a random zone. He didn't know where, but Nitro needed a long runway to test this prototype.

"Here should work I suppose…" He remarked casually and dropped his pack with a heavy thud. Nitro unzipped it and pulled out the odd gloves and shoes he picked up in his room earlier that day. He pulled on the fingerless gloves and the shoes with a snap.

"There we go! Let's get this tested." Nitro said. He had a tendency to talk to himself when he was alone. He tapped on the green pulsing circles embedded in the heels and stood. He jumped up and down, testing the support.

Then Nitro did something he had not done in over seven years. He RAN. Now, this may not seem all that impressive. But Nitro was running at speeds only Sonic could hit.

"Yah-Hooooooo!" he let off a shout of elation. This was something he had dreamed of for a long time. He shot across a booster panel and went straight through a loop and onto a rock wall. The sheer cliff was jagged and hard to run across. Nitro paid it no heed. He kicked off the wall and landed on the checkerboard ground of Green Hill Zone.

The black fox was having so much fun that he nearly didn't hear a loud beeping emanating from the odd shoes he was wearing.

"Aww, man! I hoped the power cores would last longer than two minutes. Oh well." Nitro grumbled. He jumped on a spring and stomped toward the ground, hoping to end his test run with a cool landing.

Of course he blatantly failed. The stomp was perfect, but instead of a safe landing he slammed through the ground and brought an entire loop crashing down on him.

"Holy Sh-" Nitro finished that curse because about three tons of Green Hill Zone came down on him.

"Oww…" Nitro muttered. He tried to stand up, but his movement was impeded by a large boulder above. It scraped his back as he tried to stand.

The giant stone was barely held up by rocks nearby. Nitro shook his head in disbelief.

"Well, I seem to cheat Death more and more every day." He said. He saw a crawl space, put it to good use and escaped the rocky tomb.

"You see that Death? Screw you man! I'm just that incredible fool! Know my name and fear it!" Nitro yelled at the sky. Then he looked around him. He was in a cave.

"And as usual, Fate screws me over instead." He sighed. He looked at himself and made a sound of distaste as he looked at his clothes.

_And now Kisara will kill me for ruining my clothes. I hope Death isn't too pissed at me… _Nitro thought_._ He shrugged and decided to explore the cave.

"Well, For Science I suppose." He muttered and limped off into the darkness.


	4. Chapter 4-An interesting AI

"Do these catacombs ever end?!" Nitro yelled at the ceiling. He had been walking around in the underground passageways for what felt like hours. He sighed heavily and sat down in a heap.

Nitro pulled an apple from his pocket and cleaned it off using his tails. He chomped down on it and chewed gratefully. He was about to take another bite when the gloves he had on started playing the Super Sonic Racing remix.

Before he could touch it, a 3-D model of a two tailed fox stretched out and placed itself out on the cave floor. The hologram was blue in color and covered with static, but Nitro knew who it was.

"Hello? Is this thing on? Stupid gadgets, couldn't he just carry a cell phone like a normal Mobian…" the hologram's viewpoint was shaken heavily as a clearly feminine voice came through a speaker.

Nitro groaned through the apple in his mouth. _Tails, I know I told you not to give my freakin' frequency to Kisara. Words will be had with that fool if I ever get home._

"Nitro Cerin! Where the hell are you?" Kisara yelled, snapping Nitro out of his internal conversation.

He finally put his head into the hologram view. To Kisara, it looked like his face came out of nowhere. "Yes mom?" he said sarcastically.

"Nitro, where have you been? I haven't seen you in days. Why it's like you disappeared off the map. Did you think yo…" Kisara continued to babble on as Nitro looked at the hologram of his friend. Kisara was a pretty gray fox. She had crystal blue eyes that were never quite the same color at once. They shifted in tone and shade like water. Her hair was long and smooth, flowing like a gray cape. Her bangs were dyed blue, as close to the color of her eyes as possible. She was wearing a loose periwinkle Gi uniform with a black Martial Arts belt holding the top on. A very strange sword hilt was visible from behind her neck on her right side.

Nitro was so preoccupied with staring at her that he didn't notice that she had stopped speaking.

"So, where are you? The com link can't place your location anywhere." Kisara continued.

"I fell into a cave system." Nitro said flatly. He took another bite of his apple.

Kisara looked a bit surprised. "Oh, um. Well then, do you have any idea how big it is?"

"Well…"Nitro thought of the words to describe his situation. "Um… large-ish?"

"Large-ish." Kisara repeated. Nitro gave her a look of exasperation. "I don't know! Why would you expect me to?"

"You're the genius here, not me!" Kisara bristled. "I don't know why I even try to understand you and your crazy inventions, and your-" she stopped in mid-sentence and covered her face with her hand. "Wow. I sound like an angry housewife yelling at her husband, don't I?" Kisara asked Nitro.

"Yep." Came the one word reply. Nitro took a chomp of the apple. Kisara flattened her ears against her head in annoyance.

"Well, this is a fine mess you're in this time. Call me if you ever escape, okay?" she continued, her expression softening.

"Fine. Whatever makes Her Majesty pleased." Nitro said with the barest hint of sarcasm.

They both cracked a smile at that.

"Well, I'm gonna try to find a way out of here. Wish me luck?" Nitro said. Kisara responded by blowing him a kiss. Nitro reddened under his fur.

"Come home safe, hon." She said. She ran a hand through her shining hair.

"Sure thing. Nitro Cerin, Logging out." Nitro said. He tapped twice on the blue pulsing glass orb, and the pale blue hologram faded away.

The black fox stood up and cracked his neck. "No time like the present to test this thing's capabilities."

Nitro slapped a fist into his palm. The blue glow was replaced by a green glare, identical to his eyes.

"Intellectual Augmentation Neuroids! Initiate Cerin protocol 43!" he declared.

The gloves beeped. Then a sarcastic British voice echoed from the gloves. "Entering combat mode. Welcome back, LazyBones." It said.

Nitro grinned. "Hey IAN. You still cracking the same lame jokes?"

A holographic smile appeared. It stuck its tongue out at him.

"You programmed me. That's your fault, not mine."

"If you had a face, I would flick your nose."

IAN pulled up an image of Kisara. "You wouldn't flick my nose, would you?" It said in her voice.

Nitro rolled his eyes. "I sometimes wonder whether I should have scrapped you after all."

"That's a total lie and you know it." The AI responded. A hand and mouth appeared to breathe on its fingernails in a calm and collected manner.

"No it's…yeah, yeah it is." Nitro said.

"Hah! I knew it. You are emotionally attached to your work." IAN confirmed.

The fox flicked the glass orb, sending the hologram of the mouth flickering. "So what if I am? That just means I put more effort into the things I build. Like, say, giving you a personality instead of making you silent as I had originally intended."

"When you're not sleeping." IAN retorted. Nitro rubbed his eyes with his index finger and thumb.

"Can we try to get along and do this test? I want to go home."

The AI sighed. "Alright, but I'm not happy about it."

"Good. Assume full hologram form." With these words, a new hologram took shape on the floor. It looked just like Nitro, besides being translucent and green. IAN struck a pose. "How do I look? You didn't make me super buff or something stupid like that did you?"

"No, you computerized moron. You look like me." Nitro said, grinning. "Let's move on. Try combat mode."

"Combat mode initiated. Activate target lock vision?" IAN's British voice became more deep and robotic.

"Confirmed." Nitro responded. Immediately his vision was encompassed by holographic sensors. By his left eye, a small radar was positioned. Near his right was a rotating model of himself. A small reticle appeared in the center of his vision.

Nitro lifted his hand and clenched it into a fist. Immediately, metal plates began folding out and interlocked, forming a thick gauntlet.

"Nice. Time to see if it can hold up to any punishment." He said, and scanned the wall with his augmented eyes. His holo-reticle gravitated to a glowing section of the wall and locked on.

"Something there, huh? Guess I should find out what it is. For Science, of course." Nitro said. His features twisted into a maniacal grin and his eyes glowed once again.

"HRRRRAAAAHHHH!" He yelled as he pulled his metal plated fist back and smashed into the rock wall. The stone shattered into bits, spraying him with debris. Some of it cut his arms and face, but he didn't mind. All he cared about was finding out why IAN's scanners were going haywire.

"Heheheh…HAHAHAHAH!" Nitro laughed. But his voice was different. It wasn't the voice of a depressed scientist. That voice was there, but a deadly growl was laced through his words. Nitro kept punching, using both fists now. He was totally oblivious to the fact that he had forgotten to activate the gauntlet on his other glove.

Suddenly the wall gave way against his tenth punch. He had expected more resistance, and flew off balance into another small cave. He fell down and whacked his forehead on the base of a large pedestal.

Nitro coughed, spitting rock dust out of his mouth. He tried pushed himself off the ground, but his right hand was bleeding and made it slip.

"Ow. That is not gonna heal right." He muttered. _Better keep my emotions in check. The outbursts_ _are getting worse. _This time he carefully got up and had a look at the most unusual thing he had seen that wasn't a device he had built. The pedestal was not carved from the rock of Green Hill. It looked like Serpentine, a green brittle rock that was common in the ancient ruins of the Echidnas. Sitting on the pedestal were four unusual crystals. They let off a warm comforting yellow that was reminiscent of a fireplace.

_Serpentine...why would those crazy treasure hunters put these here of all places?_ Nitro wondered. He coughed more rock dust out of his throat. "IAN. Scan the crystals."

"On it Boss Man. You want to stay in combat mode?" the AI responded.

"nah. No reason to fight right now anyway." Nitro commented. IAN displayed the hologram of Nitro and had it walk around the pedestal.

"How are the optic scanners working? Can you see me?" the fox asked his creation.

The hologram looked up and its blue eyes flashed green for a second, then red, then purple. "I think they work fine. Color needs tuning though. By the way, what was with the crazy Nitro moment back there?" IAN said, jerking a translucent thumb at the new hole in the cave wall.

"That is not your concern, peon." Nitro growled and folded his arms.

"Hey, hey, no need to be all gruff with the computer being. Just here to scan stuff." It backed off.

"You figure out what they are yet?" Nitro said, eager to change the subject.

The hologram folded in on itself, becoming a crumpled piece of paper that flew onto a Zippo lighter, where it blew up in a mini nuclear blast.

"I only could glean two things: it's not radioactive…" IAN paused for effect.

"And?" Nitro pressed.

"And it has enough power to turn the entire continent into binary code." IAN finished. Nitro's jaw hit the cave floor. "How is that physically possible? Anything that size could never hold that much energy, not even if it was radioactive!"

"It could if it was holding _Chaos." _IAN made his hologram reappear and smirk.

Nitro picked one up. It was an eight sided obelisk shape, with a rounded base. He tossed it into the air. It spun end over end and landed back in his hand.

"Hey, these look a bit like your power cells." IAN said.

"No, this isn't Chaos. Couldn't be, no way no how." Nitro said as he shook his head.

"Then what, pray tell, could it be, O Wise Creator?" IAN asked, bowing in the fashion of a servant.

"Hmph. They _DO_ look like my power cells. Maybe I could try it." Nitro thought aloud. He pulled off one of his speed enhancing shoes. The blinking red core on the heel was smoking a bit.

"I guess that was what I smelled earlier." Nitro pushed the core out of its slot and held it with two fingers. It was totally black most its length. He tossed it carelessly aside.

IAN's hologram tried to catch it, but the cell just fizzled through his fingers.

"You always forget that you're a hologram. Why is that?" Nitro said without looking up from his work. He locked the first crystal in place.

"Well, I was programmed to think like a normal Mobian, or at least as close as possible. Are your sure that will work?" IAN commented.

"Absolutely unsure. You know what I always say…" Nitro waited and gave his creation a 'go ahead, say it' gesture.

"Heh heh… _For Science!_" They said in unison. Nitro locked the other crystal in place. The shoes made a whirring noise akin to a massive computer coming to life.

"The sound of life in a machine, eh?" Nitro exclaimed. He slipped the shoes back on. He hopped up and down in them to set them tight on his feet. He felt lighter, stronger, and most importantly, FASTER. He cracked his neck, and then bolted off down the tunnels. He dashed past luminescent mosses, massive gemstones, and quick-stepped around ancient carving.

"IAN, I could use some target augmented sight right about now!" he yelled. IAN activated Target Lock Systems and displayed his hologram running alongside Nitro.

"You ready to get out of here…what is that energy signal?" IAN commented as his hologram continued to be disrupted by stalagmites.

"What do you mean?" Nitro asked his AI.

"Your shoes. The crystals are reacting with your kinetic energy. It's causing a massive power spike!" IAN explained.

"Is that all? Where is the energy going? Into the air? Through the floor, perhaps?" Nitro replied sarcastically

"It's all gathering into you." IAN said.

"Oh." Nitro squeaked. He jumped over a bright blue blob of…something. "Anything to add?" he asked in a small voice.

IAN made his hologram shift to the Thinker, a famous statue of a human deep in thought. "Hmmm…other than the wall with a ring in front of it?"

"Oh, bloody hell." Nitro swore, and closed his eyes. He had expected more pain from hitting a stone blockade. Instead of crushing agony, he heard the chime of rings being collected. He reopened his eyes. He was flying straight up.

"Whoah! In the air! Why am I in the air? Please don't fall please don't fall please don't fall please don't fall…" Nitro sobbed as he curled into a ball.

"Are you done, Boss-Man? Because I think I know what's happening." IAN said. Nitro's holo-sensors became covered with calculations, which the black fox interpreted in seconds.

"So you think the kinetic energy reaction causes an unstable formula that causes the user to be drawn to gold rings?" Nitro assumed.

"That IS what I just said, isn't it?" IAN responded in his snarky British accent.

"Starlight…" Nitro mumbled.

"Beg pardon?" IAN asked his creator.

"Look. You can see the stars. We're almost out of this stupid cave!" Nitro said excitedly.

The rings launched Nitro out of the cave like a cannon. He floated at the peak of his ascent, and then plummeted like a stone. He wished he could say his landing was graceful. In reality, he landed more or less like a sack of potatoes.

"Ow. Hooray for me, I'm alive." Nitro groaned.

"Congratulations! You just survived a fall at four times normal gravity. You are Lucky to be speaking." IAN said.

"Not lucky. Death just refuses to accept me." Nitro muttered. He climbed out of the Nitro shaped hole in the ground, and limped to a nearby tree. He collapsed under it.

"IAN, log out. Password lock." Nitro sighed.

The hologram saluted. "Yes sir, Mister Boss-Man. Intellectual Augmentation Neuroids logging out." And with that, IAN dissolved into a pile of binary code and pulled backed into the left glove.

"Peace and quiet at last." Nitro slid his hands behind his head and fell asleep within minutes.

**Author's Note: I apologize for taking so long with this bit. Hope it makes up for the wait. Please review and point out any errors in grammar! Thanks!**


	5. Chapter 5-An Unpleasant Wake-up Call

**Good whatever time of day it is where you live Readers! Chapter five here, ready to confuse you! Enjoy, and any and all yaoi pairings involving my OCs **_**will**_** be flame bombed. (You have been warned.)**

Knuckles the Echidna was napping by the Master Emerald. He had been without anything to do for several weeks. Eggman was not attacking. Rouge had not bothered him in days. So, he was left with time. In his mind, it was time to sleep.

It would have been time to sleep if not for a massive pulse of cold that rushed by him. He jolted up to his feet. His amethyst eyes glittered, looking for what had stirred him.

"Alright, who had the guts?!" he yelled. Another pulse of cold rushed by, sending chills down his spine. He sniffed the air and growled.

"Smells like Chaos. _Angry _Chaos. That can't be good." He mumbled. He took off running in the direction of the scent. As he drew near to the source, the spikes of cold grew stronger and more frequent.

He mounted the crest of one more hill. Knuckles came to a screeching halt to take in the scenery.

Or, at least what was left of the beautiful paradise.

The tranquil glade had been encased in ice. Not just a light frost or a layer of ice. The area had been frozen solid. The river was paused in time, and Knuckles had a feeling it would never melt.

"Who did this? Why would they take all this life?" he whispered, shocked. He started to walk forward, when his foot was held down by something.

He looked down to find a hand gripping his ankle! It was cold, yet at the same time it felt as if someone was pouring boiling water on his leg.

"Get off me! Let go of my foot!" he yelled as he shook his leg.

"Please don't hurt my parents Mr. Echidna." A small voice pleaded. Knuckles found the voice was coming from a black two tailed fox, the same one freezing his foot.

"Please don't shoot them." Nitro pleaded again. Frost encrusted his features, and his eyes were glowing again.

"What are you talking about? I can't even use a gun." Knuckles said, holding up a mittened hand. He attempted in vain to shake the cold hand off his leg.

_"You will be the first to die, Echidna scum."_ Nitro's mouth said. His voice sounded far different. It had taken an ancient and gravely quality.

"All right, that's it. Get off me you creep!" Knuckles yelled as he tore Nitro from his leg. He held the other Mobian by his neck, leaving Nitro dangling in the air.

"Who are you, and why did you do this?" Knuckles demanded, gesturing towards the frozen area with his free hand.

Nitro's mouth twitched upwards in what could be considered a smile. His mouth suddenly let out giggles in the ancient voice, like it was a child who had just made up a joke.

"Why are you laughing!? Stop it now!" Knuckles yelled in Nitro's face. He could feel anxiety bubbling in his gut.

_"Oh, I'm terribly sorry. But being so close to an innocent victim waiting to be killed is exhilarating,"_ the voice said. _"Especially when they are echidna scum."_

Knuckles' anxiety became outright fear. His hold on Nitro's neck tightened. "You're going to pay for that one." He said quietly.

_"Am I? Is that a threat, scum?"_ The voice replied. It began to laugh again, but it dwindled off to a gurgle as Knuckles put a second hand around his throat.

"I don't take abuse like that from anyone!" Knuckles shouted. He threw the insubordinate fox like a javelin, face-first into a tree. Nitro's head struck with a resounding **CRACK.** Icicles fell from the branches, shattering around him.

Knuckles pulled the cuff of his glove back tight and curled his hand into a fist. He fired off a lightning fast punch that caved in Nitro's skull.

Or it would have, had he not slid around the outside of his blow. Nitro's one hand slid down Knuckles' arm and grasped the echidna's wrist in an iron grip; while the other had its palm forced a steady pressure down on his shoulder joint. Knuckles was forced to the ground. He tried to move, but any more than a slight pull away caused his arm to make ominous creaking noises. Then the pressure let up and the clamp around his arm was released.

"What...how…wasn't I just sleeping over there?" Nitro's natural voice had returned. He looked down at Knuckles, who was wincing as he brushed debris from his face. Knuckles glared at him.

"What? Sorry I put you in a lock like that. You must have woken me up." Nitro apologized as he extended a hand to help him up.

Knuckles slapped the hand aside. He flipped himself up and cocked his unhurt arm back. "You got a lot of nerve, you know that?" He snarled as he walked slowly towards the inventor.

Nitro raised his hands in defense. "Whoa, whoa, there! Just calm down man. I don't want any trouble." He said anxiously as he backed away.

"Oh, you're gonna get trouble whether you want it or not." Knuckles threatened. His body blurred, then he was upon Nitro, a snarl twisting his features. His spiked fists rained down on the fox. Nitro had just enough time to put up an arm to block before he was hit.

"Having fun there, Boss-Man?" a familiar British voice quipped. IAN materialized leaning on an ice-glazed boulder.

Knuckles turned towards the hologram, the lust of battle still in his eyes. "Ya got a twin, smart guy?" He said, jerking a thumb at IAN.

IAN snorted. "Oh, please. We couldn't be less related if he was a tree. I'm not even alive."

"So…are you a robot?" Knuckles wondered aloud.

"Not in the slightest. I am an artificial intelligence, a computer program designed to rationalize as a living being would. Similar to a robot, but I lack the cybernetic body. My full title is Intellectual Augmentation Neuroids, or IAN for short. My purpose is to enhance the natural combat capabilities to Nitro here through nanomachines in his bloodstream." It answered.

"So, if you don't mind, could you kindly remove your fist from my arm?" Nitro grunted.

"If you explain the Chaos spike, and _this._" Knuckles responded, waving an arm in the general direction of the newly frozen glade.

Nitro raised an eyebrow at this. "Why would I understand this climate anomaly? I may be a genius, but I'm not a living search engine." His gaze flicked off to the right slightly, almost imperceptibly. The guardian saw it however. Knuckles picked the black fox up by the throat.

"Liar. You know what's going on. Explain, and I might be forgiving." He spat accusingly in Nitro's face.

Nitro squirmed, trying to loosen the grip on his windpipe a fraction. "Gluk! I..gan..gexpl-plain!" He sputtered. Knuckles eyed him with distrust and loosened his grip.

Nitro pushed himself away from the echidna, fell to his knees and gasped for breath. "Is that a standard greeting, or did I receive VIP treatment?' he groaned as he rubbed his neck.

"Very funny. You ought to work on your own manners before giving others advice, Mr. Judo wake-up call." Knuckles retorted.

Nitro stood back up. He was a touch shorter than Knuckles, a few annoying inches requiring him to look up to make eye contact. "So what exactly was it you wanted from me? An answer to some question?" Nitro asked picking up a conversation the never started in the first place.

"The Chaos spike, and _this._" Knuckles responded as he inclined his head towards the frozen landscape.

Nitro looked confused. "I can't explain a climate spike. They are incredibly rare, usually caused by people like me messing with cloud impregnation. Or this ice could have been caused by a tropical storm. I can't rule out a supernatural cause either considering the Chaos Emeralds…" He turned in a circle as he examined the ice. "Yeah, no clue. You have better chances finding me in a perfume store than figuring out what this is from."

Knuckles raised an eyebrow. He knew he had heard this fox's voice before, that weird way he talked. He kept using metaphors and talking like he knew everything.

"Who are you?" he asked Nitro.

"Hm? Oh, I never even told you my name. I'm Nitro Cerin. Scientist, inventor, part-time college professor, and self-proclaimed genius." Nitro took a bow. He glanced up with a grin. "And you, my acquaintance with the rosy complexion?"

"Uh, Knuckles, Knuckles the Echidna." Knuckles replied. He stuck out a stiff handshake. Nitro shook it amiably.

"I'm guessing they call you Knuckles because of those?" Nitro said, indicating the spikes on the echidna's glove.

"More or less. You hungry Nitro? I've got some leftover food at my house."

"I never turn down a free meal, and getting attacked makes me hungry." Nitro exclaimed, rubbing his hands together.

"Let's go then. Follow me." Knuckles began walking off on a dirt pathway.

Nitro did follow, limping along as he did.

** And thus concludes Chapter 5. Please review, comments keep my stories alive, and I can always use CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, not flaming. Continue reading, and remember to always read your Shakespeare!**


End file.
